Republicans to sick people: Tough luck
There was a striking Republican stumble on health care the other day that deserves to be parsed because it reveals so much about the party’s current dilemma. I’m talking about the tea party revolt that embarrassed House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) and forced him to withdraw a modest bill to bolster the high-risk insurance pool meant to help sick Americans until Obamacare’s insurance exchanges are up and running next year.
A word of warning, however: what follows contains political attitudes so petty and out of touch they may disturb younger readers.
Cantor, you’ll recall, has been trying to get his party to embrace some ideas that would show Republicans are not just austerity monomaniacs blind to middle class anxieties. In a speech on “Making Life Work” not long ago, Cantor laid out a handful of initiatives in this vein, like boosting flex time and retraining. One idea was to strengthen the high-risk pool that covers Americans with pre-existing conditions. Obamacare established this program as an interim patch for vulnerable Americans until the law’s community rating kicks in, at which point everyone can buy coverage regardless of health status. But this national high-risk pool is so poorly funded (as has been the case with similar state pools for years) that only a few of the country’s uninsurables have availed themselves of the protection.
Now, to put what happened next in context, you need to understand that Republicans who resist universal coverage but who resent being labeled “heartless” have always been quick to say that they’re as concerned as the next guy about people with predictably high health expenses. The answer, they say, rather than some broad “socialist” risk pooling, is to set up publicly subsidized high risk insurance programs. That way these unlucky souls get help while leaving private health plans to cover the rest of us in ways that don’t force higher premiums on everyone.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/matt-miller-republicans-to-sick-people-tough-luck/2013/05/01/2fca2118-b25e-11e2-bbf2-a6f9e9d79e19_story.html
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